Two years ago today...
…since I started this pointless exercise called a weblog.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Mac Mini Home Entertainment Server
Since the Mac Mini was announced at the beginning of this year, the Internet has been full of discussion about potential uses of the Mini as a home entertainment/media server. This notion has not been far from my mind also. The last update of the Mini introduced increased memory and built-in wireless (compelling enough reasons to buy), however a recent rumour has suggested modest speed bumps and the addition of dual-layer SuperDrive. This would clinch it for me.
In recognition of my 30 years of service, my employer will allow me to buy myself a gift; the amount will just about cover the cost of a bog-standard top of the line Mac Mini. Boost the memory to 1GB, add wireless keyboard and mouse and the following components: Apple DVI to Video Adapter, EyeTV for Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT), Edirol UA-1X USB-RCA Audio Interface, an external FireWire Iomega (or LaCie) hard disk, an S-video/RCA audio to SCART lead and Bob's your uncle; I should be able to hook it all up to my existing Sony CRT widescreen TV.
Here's how I envisage my system:
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Perennial Allergic Rhinitis?
I have written before about this constant feeling of having a cold (sneezing, runny nose, coughing, aching, general malaise), which I attributed to a low-level viral infection. It's been like this for getting on for a couple of months (and on-and-off for several months previously) and after thinking some more about it and conversations with colleagues, I wondered if it might not be an allergy of some kind.
After a bit of research, it did appear that my symptoms were consistent with allergic rhinitis. I thought it was probably perennial, since my symptoms were constant, but I could be wrong; nevertheless I bought some Piriteze and there was a noticeable reduction (though not elimination) of the symptoms.
Looks like a trip to the GP and some allergy tests...
Friday, September 9, 2005
Isn't Life Strange?
A turn of the page.
On 9th September 1975 as a wet-behind-the-ears eighteen year-old kid, I started working for a then, medium-sized UK-based company. Thirty years later that company is a large multinational and I'm still working for them (not that I've had much impact on the growth of the company, but I hope I've contributed in my own small way).
Anyway, I saw that there was someone else celebrating thirty years. Her name was familiar so I checked her profile - she looked vaguely familiar, but that was all; I supposed I must have seen her around at some time or another. It may have been a bad photograph, but I wouldn't have looked twice, shall we say.
Bizarrely and coincidentally, I received an e-mail from her congratulating me. I wondered why she would be writing to me, since I wasn't aware that I knew her and then the penny dropped (she'd put her maiden name at the bottom of the e-mail). Although we didn't work together (we were on different sites) we were both on the same two-year, day-release course, which we started in 1975. I couldn't believe it, not least because I actually had a thing about her and regret never having asked her out (she was very cute in those days). Although I knew she had got married (I even knew her married name) and started a family, I thought she'd left the company years ago.
Every day we make decisions. Mostly they're very small and insignificant and probably don't impact our lives that much. But every so often we make a decision which profoundly impacts our lives; I believe that my decision not to ask her out was one of those. Actually, it was more like interminable procrastination rather than a conscious decision not to ask her out, nevertheless my life could have been very different; not necessarily better, but definitely different (for a variety of reasons I'm pretty certain, in retrospect, that she would have accepted an invitation, though I'm not suggesting it would necessarily have led to marriage).
On 9th September 1975 as a wet-behind-the-ears eighteen year-old kid, I started working for a then, medium-sized UK-based company. Thirty years later that company is a large multinational and I'm still working for them (not that I've had much impact on the growth of the company, but I hope I've contributed in my own small way).
Anyway, I saw that there was someone else celebrating thirty years. Her name was familiar so I checked her profile - she looked vaguely familiar, but that was all; I supposed I must have seen her around at some time or another. It may have been a bad photograph, but I wouldn't have looked twice, shall we say.
Bizarrely and coincidentally, I received an e-mail from her congratulating me. I wondered why she would be writing to me, since I wasn't aware that I knew her and then the penny dropped (she'd put her maiden name at the bottom of the e-mail). Although we didn't work together (we were on different sites) we were both on the same two-year, day-release course, which we started in 1975. I couldn't believe it, not least because I actually had a thing about her and regret never having asked her out (she was very cute in those days). Although I knew she had got married (I even knew her married name) and started a family, I thought she'd left the company years ago.
Every day we make decisions. Mostly they're very small and insignificant and probably don't impact our lives that much. But every so often we make a decision which profoundly impacts our lives; I believe that my decision not to ask her out was one of those. Actually, it was more like interminable procrastination rather than a conscious decision not to ask her out, nevertheless my life could have been very different; not necessarily better, but definitely different (for a variety of reasons I'm pretty certain, in retrospect, that she would have accepted an invitation, though I'm not suggesting it would necessarily have led to marriage).
Saturday, September 3, 2005
Viruses
Six months ago I wrote of my nosebleeds and conjunctivitis, but I don't think I've ever fully recovered from whatever it was I contracted. Since March I've had several 'colds' and and wake up in the morning with sore, dry eyes; the last four or five weeks I've been constantly sneezing. The last few days I've been blowing out the thick stuff again and I feel pretty grotty. I assume it's a virus of some sort and so there's no point in going to the doctor.
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